Gov. Robert Bentley checks students' work at Clanton Elementary School Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Bentley was at the school visiting pre-kindergarten classrooms. He is seeking funds to expand the program.

CLANTON, Alabama - Gov. Robert Bentley visited several pre-kindergarten classrooms at Clanton Elementary School this morning as part of a tour touting the importance of pre-k and garnering support for additional funds to expand the program.

Bentley is asking the Legislature for an additional $12.5 million for pre-k, which would increase the budget by 65 percent to $31.6 million. Alabama is known for having one of the best pre-k programs in the nation, but ranks at the bottom for access to it. Currently, only 3,900 - or 6 percent -- of 4-year-olds are enrolled in the voluntary pre-k program.

"Statistics show these students tend to graduate from high school and have fewer disciplinary problems if they attend pre-k," Bentley said.

Rep. Jay Love, R-Montgomery, said it would cost the state $144 million to fully implement pre-k across the state.

"We don't have enough teachers to do that, so we're doing it the smart way," he said, adding that the goal is to increase funding each year until 100 percent of 4-year-olds have access to the program.

"Statistics show students who attend pre-k score higher in reading, they score higher in math, they have less problems, they're graduating from high school and they have lower incarceration rates," he said. "Some people ask how we can afford it. I say we can't afford not to fund it."

Elizabeth Huntley, an attorney who is on the board of the Alabama School Readiness Alliance, said the ultimate goal is to have all students graduate from high school college and career ready.

"But if they get behind, they stay behind," she said. "This way is so much cheaper than trying to get to them when they're an unwed pregnant teenager or when they're dropping out of high school."